Percy

I cursed my clumsiness as I glared daggers at the offending loose rock in the cobblestone road.

Artemis would get a kick out of that.

I had this horrible feeling in my chest. I didn't quite remember when it had begun, but it wasn't physical, more like this terrible ominous feeling.

Like I'm walking into a trap.

It was throwing me off my game.

I found myself walking around more and more as I had taken a more active role in the general workings of the city, which was leaving me with better knowledge of many of some of the more obscure parts of the city than I would have guess just a month ago.

The Field of Mars was in complete and utter chaos as I approached from the the aptly named officers peak, a ledge overlooking the valley and fortifications, where the centurions and praetors usually congregated to discuss tactics and overview the general state of the battle from above, allowing for much better understanding of the troop movements below.

The said centurions were already assembled, and for a moment I simply watched them bickering, bouncing ideas off each other like the well-oiled machine they had been trained to be.

A collective groan came up as Leila pointed something out in the Field.

Strolling in, I barely took notice of their varying reactions to my presence.

Michael's eyes had narrowed for a split second, before returning to his usually unreadable façade, Leila had glanced worryingly at Michael, before looking back down at the ground, Larry looked cool and collected, while Hank and Gwen barely even looked up from when they were observing the drills.

From what I could tell, they were basic drills, the usual stuff we practised in Camp Jupiter, marching, presenting arms, standing to attention.

Though, with a full contingent of 1300 Legionnaires at our disposal, the via principalis simply couldn't hold the massive amount of soldiers.

It was easy enough to tell apart the conscripts from the Legionnaires, with their partially missing gear, casual attitudes and sloppy executions of the drills being shown to them.

'And since when do you find yourselves exempt from leading drills?' I questioned the group.

Surprisingly, Leila was the first to speak up.

'With all the extra work you've given us, the logistics, planning and execution of plans, we don't really have much time for training, or leading our own cohorts anymore. We have appointed unofficial centurions on the ground to keep the peace, while we work the bigger picture.' She explained, having enough courage to not cower in front of me.

I nodded. 'Completely understandable. Consider this an apology for not implementing this act in earlier. I have gotten a bit sidetracked with other duties.' I said, handing a folder to Michael, the Centurion nearest to me, as he shot me questioning look, taking the folder with a disguised eagerness nonetheless.

Opening up the first page, his eyes furrowed, being joined by the rest of the Centurions as I simply watched as he flicked through the document quickly.

Larry looked up, his face giving away his skepticism.

'A promotion? Now?'

I shrugged. 'It felt appropriate.'

It was a new reform that I had been looking at even before I had become Praetor, though I had made some adjustments for the more current situation I found myself, looking to create I military high command, separate from the troops in the field, dealing with strategy, logistics, political aspects of the military and reforms and the like.

A kind of military council, with arguably much more power.

These types of laws wouldn't last for a day in peacetime with the senate. I thought to myself drily.

I was naturally going to have my current Centurions occupy the five positions in the council, and their already choosing pseudo-successors to the roles already only made this reform one step easier to actually carry out.

I've been alienating you all a bit too much recently. I thought morbidly. It would cost a bit too much to replace you all.

I didn't miss their body language, however, the clear tenseness across the group, the silent doubt, and I could practically see the cogs turning in their minds, wondering why I had implemented this, why now, searching desperately for an ulterior motive.

I only need to make sure I'm a couple of steps ahead of them until the end of the war. I mused. From there, it's up to me.

Which begged the question, what was I going to go from here, and more importantly, after the war was over?

I felt tired, I could feel it deep in my bones. I loved New Rome, the politics, culture and history fascinated me, but deep down, I knew didn't truly feel the same spark anymore, not in like I had before my quest.

You know Percy, there is life beyond New Rome… Michael's voice echoed in the back of my head.

My head snapped straight ahead in an instant, the vividness of the voice surprising me.

Simultaneously, a slight shuffle, the slight sucking in of air was heard, and I shifted my eyesight ever so slightly, noticing the alarmed reactions of my coworkers.

Some were worse than others. Michael, Larry, and Gwen, for the most part, only seemed mildly surprised, with Hank having gotten a bit of a fright, and had begun to laugh heartily at his own expense, making a jab at his lack of awareness.

Leila however, was different.

She had jumped back almost a full metre, almost directly behind Michael, and as I made eye-contact with her, I felt the burn in her eyes. The burning feeling of embarrassment, of shame.

Knowing I shouldn't give anything away, I quickly shifted my attention away, offering a half-assed explanation, though I knew nobody truly cared at that point.

It had been a silly moment, though not entirely as comical as had been made out, though I supposed when in war, and in the tense and stressful environments they lived in, moreso due to my constant overloading them with work, I supposed even a falling leaf could pass for comedy.

Quickly, however, the energy shifted once again as the moment subsided, turning back to the matters of the field. When I questioned the issue, all I got was a forlorn sigh from Gwen.

'They're undisciplined, untrained, unconditioned, and probably every other descriptor relevant to warfare with un added to the start of it.' Gwen commented, her distaste for the new conscripts clearly shining through.

I nodded pensively. 'How long do you estimate it would take to get them up to speed?' I asked.

Gwen shrugged. 'Save for a select few that seem to excel in this environment, even only after a day and a bit of conditioning, most are going to take a good while. I would say a month, at least.'

I tried not to show my disappointment too prominently, but that estimate definitely did not lend itself to the swift counterattack with superior numbers I had hoped.

Hope Gaia doesn't try anything for a month. I thought drily. Gods, we're losing to a sleeping mud lady. She is quite literally doing this in her sleep. If that isn't motivation enough for these people, I really don't know what is.

'I understand. Not ideal, but I can work with it. If I can help in any sort of way, don't hesitate to ask.' I ordered. I was debating whether or not to go down to examine the troops myself, when a loud commotion came up down in the field.

'Fuck.' Michael muttered. The rest of the Centurions looked over at him.

'That's a first cohort conscript, you know the drill.' Larry sniggered.

Michael shot him a black look, before stalking down the hill to where his appointed Field Centurion was arguing with the conscript. Most of the other cohorts and veteran instructors I had appointed from the praetorian guard seemed to stop their exercises to watch.

Must be especially severe.

'Is he… protesting?' I asked carefully, trying to coax an answer out of my newly skittish Centurions.

'Yeah, believe it or not, some of our citizens didn't really want to get conscripted into a war they didn't choose to fight.' Gwen shot back at me, though she quickly averted her gaze when I looked at her.

'This is fucking unbelievable.' I muttered, quickly making my way down the hill towards Michael, who had already approached the conscript and was laying into him about his duty.

'Oh my god, see, it's moments like this I stayed in the Legion for.' Gwen commented as I walked away.

I stalked down the hill, though the field was further away than I thought.

Michael must have run. I mused.

Oh well, I was about at a level where I could afford, and it would send a message about my health to the Legion.

Feeling the familiar sensation of the molecules in my body slowly dissolving, my world went black for a moment as I simply existed as sea-mist, feeling everything around me only through the water everywhere, in everyone, causing a surprise as I appeared beside Michael, dressed in my full Praetor's armour, my cloak billowing out behind me.

Thank god I decided on full dress. I thought. Probably would have been a lot less impressive in sweats and a t-shirt.

The partially armoured soldier turned to me surprisedly, his mouth hanging wide open in surprise.

Michael stopped mid-rant, turning to me respectfully. 'Praetor.' He greeted respectfully.

I nodded my acknowledgement of his greeting.

At least he seems to have toned down his protesting against me in public. I recognised.

'Centurion, you having an issue here?' I asked, my tone clearly conveying that I had absolutely no questions about what exactly was occurring here.

Michael nodded stiffly anyways. 'Sir, Conscript Turner here has voiced his protest against his conscription into the Legion.' He stated simply.

I turned slightly, now directly facing the aforementioned conscript. Behind him, the Legion had settled down on the plains, staring at me expectantly.

The boy was young, probably barely in university, with a mop of brown hair and brown eyes, quite unremarkable in features or stature, his Imperial gold lorica segmentata being his only protection apart from a standard-issue gladius at his right hip.

'Conscript Turner?' I asked.

The boy stood to attention, albeit rather pathetically.

'Praetor Jackson.' He responded quickly, averting his gaze.

I narrowed my eyes dangerously.

'Do you wish to be court-martialed, Conscript Turner?' I question icily.

'N-No Praetor.'

'Then you will refer to me as Pontifex as of this moment onwards.' I said the last part deathly calm, though the severity of the situation clearly wasn't lost on the boy, who seemed determined to fix his gaze on anything or anyone other than me.

'Yes Pontifex.' He responded.

'Good. Now, let's look for your replacement.' I said calmly, gesturing for him to follow me.

I stopped after only to steps, noticing the boy was rooted in his place.

'Come on, I don't have all day, and I'd rather get someone sooner than later.' I said impatiently.

'Sir? I don't understand.' The Turner boy said nervously.

I scoffed. 'Oh you don't? I believe you were just voicing your aversion to being conscripted, no?'

Turner shifted nervously. 'I mean, not exactly-'

His voice cut off as I turned around abruptly, stalking towards him, the boy seemingly finally finding his legs, scrambling back surprisedly as I advanced.

'I need to find someone to replace you, naturally. And because I am so generous, I will allow you to pick exactly who you wish to die in combat in your place, to defend your freedom, your family, and your sorry ass against the primordial of the fucking earth!' I shouted the last part at him, causing the boy to trip over himself, falling back hard against the earth.

For a moment, there was only silence, as the Legion, Michael, the veteran trainers from the praetorians all watched Turner.

The kid had finally made eye-contact with me, his eyes wide.

'Well?'

Turner nodded. 'I don't want to choose someone.'

'You choose someone, or you serve.' I said.

'I'll fight.' He responded after a moment of staring down at his shoes.

I nodded, not wanting to push him much further.

He has motivation now, but push him too far and he'll collapse under the weight. I repeated to myself, the mantra of my old Centurion when training.

I offered him a hand, helping him back up.

There was no fanfare, no cheer, only a silent loathing.

The kid would probably be beaten to a pulp tonight.

He brought it upon himself.

By this time, the rest of the Centurions had come down from the vantage point, in time to see some of the end of my disciplining of the conscript, and though there was the usual care to avoid eye-contact with me, I was surprised to see a sort of silent respect in their eyes.

Until they quickly looked away.

Michael was quick to take stock of the situation, calling to his cohort to resume drills, which prompted the rest of the Field Centurions to hastily resume their exercises.

I stood around, backing off so that Michael could take control of the situation once again.

As I observed the Legion, I noticed Leila off to the side, frowning as she observed her Legion.

Glancing back to Michael, I saw him already engrossed in his duties, shouting at a regular legionnaire who had been slacking off.

Noticing the rest of my newly-promoted centurions had already resumed their duties, I frowned when I realised Leila seemed to be slacking off.

Walking over, I stood beside her, looking out along the same line of sight as her, her gaze on the First Cohort.

'I didn't realise the fourth was this independent.' I commented.

Leila shrugged, never even shooting me a glance.

'I just needed a small break. Being ordered to carry out laws which go against my morals have the tendency of doing that.' She murmured.

'I am going to win us the war, Leila, you have to understand that.' I responded carefully.

'Do I now? It seems to me that I will be ordered to fulfil my duty regardless.' Leila spat, though still keeping her voice down.

'It isn't that simple, Leila.' I tried to reason. 'You don't have the full picture, you don't understand what we're up against.'

'Only because you won't tell the rest of us anything.' Leila shot back, finally turning to face me directly. 'Do you have any idea how scared we are? You have taken full executive powers. Conscripted a tenth of our population. The people are scared, and neither I, nor any of the rest of the centurions, or sorry, your new military councillors, really know what to say to anybody, because not even we are sure what we're fighting for anymore. We haven't seen the enemy in a month, and right now, the only person that I'm worried about threatening Rome is you.' Leila huffed, having finished her rant.

My face had turned stony.

So you were the one poisoning my command. You were the one that convinced Michael. I deduced to myself.

I knew Reyna couldn't have been the only one to disagree with me. There had to be more. I had suspected Leila, but, honestly I had been hoping to be wrong.

However, I couldn't really make an example of her as I had done with Octavian. She had too much influence within my officer corps.

'Do you know why we haven't seen a single monster since I returned from my quest, Leila?' I asked calmly. 'Because I destroyed the only other army Gaia had at her disposal at the time. Do you think I found Porphyrion just waltzing around the Californian wilderness on his own?' I scoffed. 'Come on, be serious. I am what has kept this city safe for the last month, at the cost of my own longevity. Or did you forget that I too was almost assassinated?'

Leila stayed silent.

'And to be frank with you, there's a reason I have expanded the Legion. We would lose. Plain and simple. We wouldn't even be able to take out a single one of Gaia's armies as was, and believe me, they will be just as large, if not larger than the one that attacked New Rome a month ago. And believe me, she's raising every single monster in Tartarus she can get her hands on. I'm in a race against time here, and my enemy has a lot more resources than me, and doesn't have a difficult fucking officer corps to boot.' I hissed the last part out, causing Leila to take a surprised step back.

'Where the fuck have you been, Leila? That's right, you stayed behind the walls, failing to defend the city with the underpowered military we claim to be the successor to one of the greatest empires the world has ever seen. Now, I don't care if you have some sort of moral issue with what I'm doing, but for fucks sake, train your cohort, because I don't have the time to babysit all of you.' I ended.

I turned to walk away, before pausing.

'And for your information, all of this will make my retirement just all the sweeter after this is over.'

XIXI

Percy

Leila worried me.

Though she wasn't the type of person to do so on purpose, she did wield a considerable amount of influence among my newly-promoted officer corps, and her lack of faith was hurting morale. Hopefully the talking-to will have at least convinced her to tone down her views.

Chances are Michael will calm down too in that case. I considered.

The two were the unofficial ringleaders of the five, and even some of the more friendly officers like Hank were starting to become antsy around me, though they presumed I didn't notice.

Just fucking hold out until we defeat Gaia. I thought darkly. After all this stress, I'll fucking impale her myself.

The willow tree was quiet when I arrived, and I realised for a moment that I hadn't visited the place since Artemis had begun coming over to my villa.

Strange how quickly things progress. I mused.

Then again, it wasn't exactly like I had much of anything to compare to.

When had that become a thing, though?

I began to doze off the moment I dropped down, leaning against the body of the tree, feeling the familiar protection the drooping leaves seemed to provide, shielding me from the issues I would have to face in New Rome.

Of course, the two had always been close, going back to the second titan war days in the first cohort with Reyna and Jason, but I had never seen them in this sort of… Situationship, for lack of better descriptor.

I suppose they'll have to figure it out themselves. I mused.

Truthfully, I wouldn't even know of it if it hadn't gotten to the point of actively harming my Legion. Though I would be eternally grateful to the deity responsible if they could put their issues on hold and simply lead as they were supposed to.

And that was without considering how troublesome the conscripts would be regardless of the confidence of two of my most senior officers in the war effort and my leadership, I really hoped I would be proved wrong. Trying to plan out where next to go with this war would be a bitch in and of itself.

A subdued silver flash sounded behind me.

I started, blinking my eyes open feverishly from my semi-dose, looking around surprisedly.

So short a time after an attack against my life, and I'm already this relaxed. I thought disappointedly. Though I suppose it was a calculated risk.

I was on my feet already by the time the flash of light had faded away, having already found the source of the light.

She looked dishevelled, her hair messy, and matted against her face, as if she had run half the country without a single break. I noticed a couple of cuts on her, though she didn't seem to have any serious injury, much to my relief.

Words were unnecessary.

We embraced each other as we met, heolding each other tight, our presence a balm on one another.

'Orion should be dead.' Artemis murmured into my chest.

My heart dropped straight into my stomach.

'You fought him?' Gods, I hoped my voice didn't sound as strained as it did to myself.

She scoffed, though it was so muted I barely made it out.

'He tricked me. He knew he was never going to beat me, but he distracted me. The werewolves… The werewolves got to my hunters before I could help them.' She ground out.

I was speechless.

'Are they… Okay?' I asked, trying to be tactful.

Artemis shook her head. 'I lost over half my number. More will die of injuries. And Thalia… Thalia is gone.'

'I'm sorry.' It was all I could say.

Artemis shook her head. 'The worst bit is, I couldn't even finish him off at the end. And I was too late to help.' She looked up, making eye contact with me.

'When it is time, I want you to be the one to help me kill him. I want to see him understand true helplessness. Nothing will save him from my wrath'

I frowned. 'Cruel.' I pointed out.

Artemis shrugged. 'He deserves it.'

Artemis looked up once again, making eye-contact with me, though this time her eyes held a determination in them I hadn't seen before.

'Perseus, while I was out there, I came to a realisation.' Artemis began. 'I am going to disband my hunt. They… Aren't what I want to do with my life anymore.'

'Artemis… You don't have to do this.'

'I know.'

I sighed defeatedly. 'Right. And you're sure?'

Artemis' face turned contemplative. 'It's a feeling you get, Perseus. I have become what I swore to eradicate. So many in my hunt… and they were all helpless, because I had to make all the decisions for them. They became reliant on me. Is that truly being independent?'

'You didn't mean it like that.'

'And yet, that doesn't change how it turned out. That's why I am going to disband my hunt.' She smiled sadly. 'I suppose you were just that push I needed to realise it.'

I nodded in understanding, though in my head, I was deep in thought. I stared off into the distance, the rolling Berkely hills.

I thought back to New Rome. Was I truly helping them? By taking over so many roles, making all the important decisions? What would happen after I died, if anything happened to me?

Would everything go back to the way it had been?

More importantly, with the controversy of my laws, who would want to follow in my footsteps after me? Make the decisions that had to be made, move forward, instead of stagnating?

Had I made a mistake?

Artemis frowned as she studied my face. 'What's wrong?'

I continued staring off, my thoughts tormenting me as I thought frantically of some way to justify what I had done.

In the end, I bowed my head.

'Fuck.' I muttered.

I stepped back, running a hand through my hair, squeezing my eyes shut.

I fucked up.

I sighed. Turning to Artemis I pursed my lips.

'I think I made a mistake.'

AN:

And we're finally done with my official unofficial 'Trouble in paradise' arc.

And with that done, we'll finally be moving into the endgame.

So uh, I've pretty much come ot the conclusion, thanks to the help of multiple reviews and much stewing, that at least seven, if not more of the earlier chapters need minimum some rewriting to fit the general tone, or at least be more streamlined and in character with the rest of the story.

So basically, I'm not sure whether or not to go over those first, or finish the fic and then fix that. Youse decide.

Reviews:

BJack12: Lol I know right? I admit, I enjoy depressing stuff, probably coming from having lived on a miserable rock in the atlantic, but honestly I just felt it was necessary to give anything meaning, you know? If everybody lives and is having a grand aul time, it doesn't give any stakes to the plot. And I also don't like Thalia. But yeah, it's just how my story turned out. Could have just as easily killed off Michael or Leila for the same effect. War is war.

John23421: Hope you don't hate me too much for that. More of the same, really. Stakes, underlining the seriousness of the war, and I would add, even though I'm not a fan of her character, I definitely wouldn't have killed off Thalia if it didn't suit the story. I just found it was a good way to end her character, especially with her being the only one who uncovered Artemis and Percy's secret. I find it also gives more legitimacy to their relationship, as it undermines the dangers of being discovered, while compounding the effects of the war.

But yeah, that's just cope for me killing off Thalia. Idk man.

Ardwyr: Cheers man, much appreciated. If you ever dislike anything though, happy to get some constructive feedback, well aware this needs work.

To any and all commission artists, I'm broke. I don't have shit in the way of funds. Sorry not sorry.

And that's about it for me. I'll try not to make youse wait too long for the next chapter.

Slán, Murph